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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Chicken Fajitas on Crispy Taco Tortillas

The yield for this dinner would normally feed four people, but my husband, since there is just the two of us took enough for two people and finished the entire plate of food - there wasn't anything left. He didn't stop complimenting me on the flavor of the dish which is far better than having him push the plate aside which he has done when he doesn't like something I've cooked. Whew!
What makes this dish is the spice rub. I can't take credit for the creation of this spice rub because I used the exact recipe from a page called One Hundred Dollars A Month.
I knew I had some taco sized tortillas in the refrigerator and last shopping trip got a small package of chicken tenderloins. All I needed was some peppers to make this delicious meal.
The first thing you want to do is make this fabulous spice rub mixture which is the major flavor factor in addition to the onions and peppers. Despite the expense, I opted for colorful peppers and went with green, orange and red. It's a Mexican style dish so it should be colorful.

This makes plenty of spice for the chicken and adding to the vegetables with some left over - unless you ramp up on the other ingredients then you may not have much left over. If you do end up with left over you can store in a small airtight container for future use in another dish. Don't be alarmed by cornstarch - it really helps the spice adhere to the chicken.

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp. granulated garlic

3/4 tsp. crushed chicken bouillon cube (about one cube)

1/2 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. paprika

I crushed the bouillon cube with my meat pounder.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until blended really well and set aside.

The other ingredients for the dish:

1 lb. chicken tenderloins

1 small green bell pepper

1 small red bell pepper

1 small orange bell pepper

1 large onion sliced in half moons

taco size or regular size tortillas

oil (vegetable) for crisping the tortillas

olive oil

water

Wash the chicken in cold water and dry them with paper towels. With a knife remove that yellowish tendon from each piece. Then to increase the amount of chicken, I split each tenderloin in half lengthwise. You can even cut the pieces in half cross wise if you want smaller pieces.

Sprinkle a generous amount of the spice rub all over the chicken pieces and set aside.

Prep the onion and the peppers. Slice the onion in half moon and separate the pieces and slice the pepper into strips.

In a deep non-stick skillet that has a lid, I coated the bottom of the skillet with a little bit of olive oil to help sear the chicken. Over medium high heat, heat the oil and place the chicken pieces in the pan and sear for 1- 1 1/2 minutes on the first side and flip over and cook the other side for another minute or so. Do this in batches as necessary and place the almost cooked chicken on a waiting plate.

After the chicken in done, slosh a touch of oil if necessary in the pan and add in the onions and peppers. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add two tablespoons or so of water to the pan, stir and scrap up all of the good bits in the pan. Add the chicken over the vegetables, stir, lid and cook for about 4-6 more minutes until the chicken is cooked through. If you like the vegetables softer, cook more and for firmer, cook less.

While the chicken finishes cooking, in another frying pan or skillet add about 1/4 inch vegetable oil to the pan and heat over medium high heat. When the oil is hot carefully place a tortilla in the oil using a set of tongs and press down in the pan. Press any bubbles that form. Fry until golden then flip over and fry the second side. The browning process doesn't take long about 20 seconds. The tortillas should drain on some paper towels.

Plate the dish with the crispy tortilla on the bottom and then load the top of it with the fajita mixture. I had some nice juice in the pan, so if you want to eliminate the juice use a slotted spoon to remove the mixture.
Depending on appetites you can serve one or two tortillas. Like I said earlier, for my husband it was two.

The total cost of this dinner for me was $10.61, feeds four portions for $2.65 each.